Slow as in performance or slow as in ease of development? Yes, I believe Python/Perl/PHP can be a lot faster in terms of performance, but I wouldn't try writing an enterprise application with those technologies. It's also easier to write up a PHP page, copy it under Apache's web root and hit the browser, than to create and deploy a .war file for a JSP. However, when the application's size goes up, it becomes more and more important to have a manageable structure -- something that PHP/Python/Perl don't necessarily help you with as much as Java or J2EE does.